We arrived back in Utah, USA on Tuesday, Feb 5th and headed towards Providence as quickly as possible. It was such a fun surprise to fine our kitchen/family room all decorated for my recent 70th birthday. Thanks to Hilary's family for their efforts to give me a fun surprise.
I'm sure that I began unpacking and washing clothes straight away, because I love to get dirty clothes washed and put away. Steve tackles the mail right away and I appreciate his willingness to deal with that. We do best when we stay awake until bedtime in the evening so we just kept working at getting settled and organized. Jet lag can be a challenge at times.
February 6th was AJ's 4th birthday. We went over with our gifts in the morning before we had to drive back to SL. It was fun to watch him rip open the wrapping with boundless excitement and enthusiasm. He loves birthday's especially his own.
In between appointments in SL, we have been busy moving all of our personal stuff to the basement apartment. In one of the upper kitchen cabinets, Steve discovered the old jar of mincemeat that we used to hide in family member's luggage. It has been all the way to Brazil. With current travel restrictions, it has been stuck on the shelf instead of traveling worldwide. Sad jar to be stuck on the shelf!
The morning of the 7th, Steve had the 2nd of his "skinhead" treatments to prevent future skin cancer on his tender head and face. It's not pleasant for him so we pray it works.
That afternoon we drove back to CV and arrived in time to pick up Hilary and meet Adam at the annual Visionary Client Appreciation Dinner. The food was great and the Bar J Wranglers furnished fantastic entertainment. Adam was the only prize winner at our table as usual. I think he won a $50 gift card to TJ Maxx or something like that. We think he's a winner every year. Hilary was hoping for the grand prize, a trip to Disneyland. Sorry Hil.
We had lots of snow at both of our UT homes. It's still winter!
Sunday, we enjoyed having Hilary's family to dinner after church. It was fun to continue our birthday celebrations for AJ and me. It's always a good excuse for ice cream.
Monday we drove back to SL to see Tanner, work on the thermostat at Lois's condo and prepare to fly out Tuesday morning to visit Tiffany's family in TX.
Below Steve is replacing the thermostat. The furnace continued to have issues so we ended up calling someone to service it. It's too cold to heat the condo with just the gas fireplace and we wanted to make sure, our tenant is comfortable.
Early on the 12th, Tanner dropped us off at the airport where we met up with our mission friends, the Briggs. They joined us on our visit and to see the some Texas sites and attend the rodeo they have heard us talk so much about.
I got to sit by the window which I love. The amazing view of the southern Utah canyons and red rock was a joy to behold. God made such a beautiful world!
We rented a car so that the four of us and Tiffany's family could all drive in one vehicle if needed. We picked up our rental car and drove straight to Tiffany's. They were all sitting on the front porch to greet us. What a nice surprise! Even more surprising was seeing their transformed house all freshly painted on the outside. It is so attractive with its happy red door.
Their family has really gone the extra mile to prepare their home for sale since Shawn starts a new job in Tyler, TX on the 18th. Hopefully we can help them finish up a few projects. They have already done a ton of stuff. Some lucky family is going to get a really nice home!
Tiffany had prepared a big pot of ham and beans for all of us. Fortunately, Dave and Steve both love ham and beans.
Abigail was willing to humor me and model her pig nose that we sent all the grandkids last Halloween.
First thing the next morning, we all went to the Magnolia Pancake Haus for breakfast. What a feast! We all "ate too much." After a delicious breakfast, Shawn went back to the house since he is unemployed and worked on projects. The rest of us guiltily got in the car and drove to Austin to the LBJ Library. This was something none of us had seen. So we set politics aside and went to learn more about history and the life and legacy of our 36th U.S. President.
Abigail's experience in an old fashioned phone booth. Who knew those would become obsolete?
The library portion of the museum is pretty large and I would think kind of daunting for a scholar.
One of our favorite displays was Lady Bird Johnson's office. It really wasn't very large.
Before we left, we posed for a selfie in front of Pres. Johnson's limousine.
Next we went to the state capitol building where the legislature was actually in session. They only meet in Texas once every two years.
This photo was taken in the rotunda of the capitol building.
As we drove back from Austin, we kept seeing these empty school buses being towed. Tiffany says that someone takes old buses and sells them to Mexico for further use so we think that it what was happening.
No visit to Texas is truly complete until you have checked out Buc-ee's gas station and convenience store. It is truly a Texas-sized convenience store. Each restroom is the size of a normal gas station.
Tiffany bought some kolaches for everyone to taste and share. They are very popular bakery items in Texas.
Meanwhile Shawn has been diligently working on the back yard and other home projects.
Betwixt and between we tried to help out. We made some runs for supplies and helped plan and clean the yard, but mostly the first few days of our visit we played with the Briggs, Tiffany and Abigail. The 14th, Valentine's Day, was stock show and rodeo day for us. Tiffany had purchased the tickets months ago. The stock show, displays, vendor booths, food and rodeo did not disappoint.
Dave and Steve even bought similar Aussie hats that we less expensive than the one's we saw during our visit to Australia in December.
After the impressive rodeo, we got to see Alabama perform. This is their 50th year performing since they made their first album. They were just as energetic and entertaining as ever. One member is not able to perform anymore for health reasons, but these guys were amazing. We loved the show!
After a quick morning run to Lowe's, we set off with our guests to SAS, San Antonio Shoes. They have a big display of vintage cars that we hadn't ever taken the time to look at. It was fun to see.
Dave, Vickie, Steve and I all ended up purchasing some shoes. They are such comfortable shoes. I think that we will all enjoy our comfortable shoes. In the future, we will have to replace them on-line. Next we headed downtown to the Alamo.
Next we walked over to the famous River Walk. By the time we walked around there, it was getting quite warm, in the 80's. We commented how hot and humid it was. We should have just enjoyed it since the rest of the week got cold and rainy.
It is quite interesting that the big mall was built around this little historical church. I think that was neat that they didn't tear it down to build the wall.
We met two of Tiffany's best friend families at Big Lou's Pizza for this 42 inch pizza. It takes a crowd to eat this pizza. It was fun to meet Tiffany's and Abigail's friends. The pizza was actually pretty good. Shawn was hoping to meet us for pizza but alas, he was motivated to finish placing the truckload of bark chips that were delivered earlier.
Abigail diligently helped her dad when we got home from the pizza party.
Saturday was dedicated to work projects so we could help out. Briggs drove the rental car to Johnson City to check out the famous LBJ Ranch.
Steve and Shawn created a nice footpath to the backyard.
That night we all got together for an authentic and Mexican dinner at one of Shawn's favorite restaurants. It was a delicious ending to a fun filled Texas visit with our dear friends, Vickie and Dave Briggs. In between the fun activities, Dave, an electrician, diagnosed and repaired some electrical issues Tiffany and Shawn and endured for years. Viola! Dave's efforts and his magic touch fixed the problem. The Briggs took the rental car to the airport and flew home Sunday morning.
We stayed a couple more days.
Shawn left for Tyler on Sunday as he had an early morning meeting in Longview another 45-60 minutes away. We attended church and enjoyed a pleasant day together. I spent quite a bit of time looking for homes in the Tyler area on-line. Monday morning we got up early and finished painting Abigail's pink bedroom to a more neutral color. White.
Then we took off for Tyler. All the way there, I was texting with a real estate agent I had lined up to show us homes. We stopped in Waco to grab lunch at the Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia Market at the Silos. We didn't wait in the long line to check at the real bakery. We ate at the food trucks in the back.
Steve got cupcakes at the Silos food truck. We didn't end up eating them until the next day but they were still pretty good. We did think they were pricey. I had the best lunch which was a kids' meal grilled cheese sandwich. Sometime we will stop and check out the store too.
This was the sink in the women's restroom.
We met Shawn and the realtor at our favorite on-line house in Flint about 5:30. We really liked the house and property a lot. It definitely set the course of our appointments for the next day. It was our standard for comparison. Then we went Kawa's Hibachi Grill for dinner so we could celebrate Shawn's birthday together before we head back to UT.
We looked at houses until about 2 o'clock the next afternoon. We went to the Flint house one more time and a couple of vacant homes for a second look. Then we dropped Shawn off at his extended stay "prison" hotel and started back to SA. Our flight was scheduled for early the next day.
Of course we had to make a rest stop on the return trip. We chose to stop in Corsicana at the Collin Street Bakery which is the home of the Christmas fruitcake. They had nice restrooms and some other delights including pecan specialties. We got some peanut brittle to take home to Dave Briggs. He will love it.
It was exciting to help Tiffany and Shawn find a new home and help a little with their selling and moving preparations. They deleted the wonderful Flint home as the kitchen was really small. The house they ended up purchasing in Bullard was a beautiful newly built home that Shawn fell in love with. We all agreed it would be an excellent home and we are happy that they were able to purchase it. Now we can't wait to visit again!
On our way home, we were able to connect with our mission friends, the Johnsons from Arizona, who were waiting at a gate for a return flight back to AZ. That was a delightful tender mercy from heaven!
Once we were back in Utah, Steve hung a new light fixture in the entry of the Murray basement apartment. Now Tanner can see when he comes home from work. It felt like old times on the mission.
Snow, snow, snow! It is still winter in Utah. We like a change of seasons though. It's always good to come home!
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